Nintendo reveals the Nintendo Network, may change Wii U name

When the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy 3DS game box art got revealed a few days ago, it included an intriguing new logo with the words “Nintendo Network” written underneath it. At the time it was speculated this is Nintendo‘s attempt to bring a PSN/Xbox Live experience to its platforms, and that’s now turned out to be pretty much what Nintendo is doing.

The Nintendo Network has been revealed by president Satoru Iwata as a collection of services. They will include sales of digital content (DLC), communication between players, and a player account system for Wii U allowing each gamer to share hardware, but use their own settings/stats.

The new network will be rolled out to the 3DS first, but the Wii U will also get hooked up at some point. Whether that happens from launch or later on has yet to be decided, but I’m sure it will be governed by what launch games can support it. As for offering full game downloads, at the moment it’s under consideration, but not definitely going to happen.

Iwata also left the door open by saying “various services” suggesting more could be added in the future, and 3rd parties may therefore feature. That means services like Netflix should get the opportunity to be a part of the Nintendo Network experience.

But while it may be all smiles about this new network, apparently there’s a lot of concern behind the scenes at Nintendo regarding the Wii U. More specifically, the name of the Wii U is not universally liked and therefore it could be changed before launch.

Nothing has been said officially yet, but the 3DS name has caused some confusion among gamers (similar name and game packaging to the DS seem to be the culprits). Nintendo don’t want to repeat that with the Wii and Wii U. It also didn’t help matters that the initial reveal of the Wii U left gamers scratching their heads as so much focus was put on the controller. A decision Iwata has since admitted was a mistake.

If Nintendo do want to change the name of their next console, it really has to be done before E3 happens. That’s the last chance the company has to really build excitement for the platform in the West.

As to what they will change the name to, I doubt Nintendo would drop the word Wii. Could we simply see the “U” switched out for a “2”?